While rain Thursday afternoon forced a postponement of Bonita Vista High School’s softball game against visiting Santana High School, the girls lacrosse game on campus went on as scheduled despite the wet conditions.
Bonita Vista rallied from a 3-0 deficit to defeat visiting Mar Vista, 13-9, in a Metro Conference encounter.
The non-league win evened the Barons’ early season record at 3-3 while Mar Vista saw its record dip to 1-6 following a 15-1 season opening win over Monte Vista.
“It was awesome,” BVHS head coach James Masias said of the comeback victory. “The kids have been practicing super hard. Our practices are intense; perhaps even more than some of the games we played.
“I’m proud of everyone on the team on how we were able to come back and get this win. My defense at the end of the game, we had one junior and three freshmen in.”
The Barons reversed course as the rain started to fall harder, turning the early deficit into a 5-4 lead at halftime. The hosts scored eight goals in the second half as the rain stopped while the visitors scored five goals.
Senior Nikki Stuart topped Bonita Vista with six goals in Thursday’s game while sophomore Waverly Lester scored three goals. Senior Megan Petersen and sophomore Aleana Godoy each scored two goals.
Sophomore Tatiana Eustaquio was credited with eight saves. As a team, the Barons collected 20 ground balls, led by Petersen with six.
This is the third year for Masias as head coach at Bonita Vista. Last season the Barons finished 3-15-1 after posting a 9-10 record in 2017.
Under former coach Ernesto Luna, Bonita Vista finished 17-4 in 2014 as the runner-up team in the San Diego Section Division II championship game. The Barons finished 12-6 in 2015, before dropping to 4-13 in 2016.
The three wins the team already has secured to start this season matches the three wins last season, which has Masias optimistic about the rest of the 2019 campaign.
“We’re hoping we can keep the wins coming, at least enough to get into the playoffs,” said Masias, whose team hosts Olympian (3-1) on April 3.
SoCal Invite
Bonita Vista finished runner-up to Murrieta Mesa in the Silver Division championship game of last Saturday’s SoCal Invitational at Del Norte High School.
The Barons, who improved to 6-4 on the season, defeated Valley Center (7-5), Santa Fe Christian (10-5) and Santana (5-4) in pool play to bring a 3-0 record into the final against Murrieta Mesa, which capped tourney play with a 10-2 victory.
“We got a trophy, which was so cool,” BV senior Haley Lester said.
Stuart leads Bonita Vista in scoring through 10 games with 41 goals and 12 assists, followed by Godoy with 24 goals and Petersen with 18 goals and two assists.
Stuart collected three goals and three assists in the win over Santa Fe Christian while Petersen racked up three goals and one assist in the game.
Haley White leads the Barons in fielding with 40 ground balls, followed by Godoy and Petersen each with 36.
Photo Gallery by Phillip Brents
Washed out: Lady Barons, Sultans’ softball contest rescheduled
Thursday’s non-league softball game was halted in the bottom of the first inning with Bonita Vista leading 1-0. Sophomore Micaela Micario tripled and came home on a single by classmate Alexis Guevara.
However, the umpiring crew deemed the ball too slick to continue play and the game was postponed until after spring break, according to third-year BVHS head coach Alé Jordan.
The Barons remain at 5-1 to start the season while Santana’s record remains at 4-1.
“We’re young, as we have only three seniors,” Jordan said. “We graduated six seniors last year.”
Still, Jordan sees his team as the one to beat for this year’s Mesa League championship. The Barons finished 18-9-2 last season, including 9-1 in league play to finish one game ahead of Mater Dei Catholic.
Bonita Vista finished 2-2 in last year’s Open Division playoffs as the No. 5 seed.
The Barons opened this season by winning their first four games before dropping a 4-3 decision to Mater Dei Catholic in the semifinals of the Cougar Classic. The Barons rebounded with a 12-6 non-league win at Christian on March 14.
“It’s an early start to the season – we still don’t know what we have,” Jordan said. “But it seems like we have a good hitting team. We have home runs from eight different players in six games.”
Senior Vinitzia Blanco leads the team with a .467 hitting average, followed by Guevara and Macario at .444, junior Kodi Gora at .429 and sophomore Sophia Estrada and Ashley Decker at .400.
Guevara leads the team with nine RBI while Macario leads the team with seven runs scored.
Guevara is 5-0 in the pitching circle with a 0.67 earned-run average and 25 strikeouts in 21 innings.
Jordan noted that Guevara did not pitch in the loss to Mater Dei Catholic.
Besides Macario and Guevara, Jordan lists junior Julia Hill and Blanco as other impact returners. Sophomore Nicole Hills ranks among the team’s impact newcomers, coming up from last year’s junior varsity team.
Jordan sees Mater Dei Catholic and Eastlake at the Barons’ chief challengers for this year’s league championship.
Mater Dei Catholic is currently 9-0 while Eastlake is 8-2.
Mater Dei Catholic joined Bonita Vista in last year’s Open Division playoffs while Eastlake advanced to the Division I championship game, losing 3-0 to Rancho Bernardo.
Bonita Vista opens Mesa League play April 10 by hosting Eastlake.
“Mater Dei Catholic has two seniors who are headed to UCLA while Eastlake has really stepped it up and has some good hitters,” Jordan said.
BVHS players attributed a strong team chemistry to the team’s early season success.
“Our chemistry is very good,” Blanco commented. “It helps us on the field.”
“I really like the different skills we each have that we can bring to the table,” Macario added.
“Our energy helps us,” Guevara noted. “We really never give up our will to win the game.”
But once the game started, it started raining harder …
Prep Baseball: Raiders surge to 10-3 start
Southwest defeated visiting Maranatha Christian, 17-3, on March 19 to improve to 10-3 on the season. Dominic Escobar rapped out three hits, scored two runs and collected four RBI to help propel the Raiders to their latest victory.
Arian Tirado scored two runs and drove in three runs while three other players each collected two RBI: Adrian Sanchez, Diego Corrales and Raul Bojorquez. Southwest slugged Maranatha Christian pitcher for 19 hits, including six extra base hits.
Rene Montoya pitched 4.1 innings, yielding five hits and no earned runs, to pick up the pitching victory. He struck out three hitters and did not walk a batter.
The Raiders proved they were no pushover after defeating Hilltop, 3-1, in a GMC tournament game on March 15. In that game, Ricardo Dominguez and Diego Ruiz each drove in runs while Adrian Sanchez pitched a complete game one-hitter, striking out 10 Lancers.
Sanchez threw 105 pitches while facing 26 hitters.
Sanchez is excelling both on the mound at the plate. He has posted a 3-0 record with a 1.04 earned-run average while leading the team with a .485 hitting average and recording nine RBI.
Sanchez has 26 strikeouts in 27 innings.
Jorge Martinez is also 3-0 on the hill with a 1.40 ERA. He has 19 strikeouts in 10 innings.
Escobar leads the Raiders with 13 RBI.
Southwest, winners of its last three games, will meet Monte Vista (7-6) in the GMC tournament championship game on March 30 at the Spring Valley school. Game time is 10:30 a.m.
